About Us
The Center Behind The Practice
We believe people receiving behavioral health services deserve care grounded in the best available evidence, and the workforce delivering it deserves sustained support in putting it into practice. That conviction led to the creation of our Center of Excellence a decade ago at UT San Antonio.
Housed in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, we were founded with a portfolio anchored by Cognitive Adaptation Training, the home-based intervention for which we remain the primary international training center, along with a commitment to other empirically supported approaches.
Over the past decade, our portfolio has expanded to include training, implementation support, applied research, and eLearning development across a broad range of evidence-based practices. We partner with community behavioral health providers, managed care organizations, local mental health authorities, health systems, and state agencies across Texas and beyond.
Our Mission
“To improve the lives of people receiving behavioral health services by equipping the workforce with the evidence-based practices that produce real, lasting change.”
Who We Are
Meet the Center
Our “Who We Are” presentation offers a deeper look at our team, our history, and the evidence-based practices we champion.
Our Team
Leadership
Natalie Maples
Dr. Natalie Maples leads efforts to expand access to evidence-based psychosocial practices through workforce training, implementation support, and applied research. With a background in public health and clinical psychology, she serves as principal investigator on multiple initiatives focused on dissemination and sustainment of evidence-based practices, including Cognitive Adaptation Training (CAT) for individuals transitioning from institutional settings. Her work bridges research and real-world practice by partnering with community mental health providers, government agencies, and payers to support high-quality implementation. She has supervised clinicians both clinically and administratively for nearly two decades and is recognized for expertise in structured interviewing and clinical research rating, including the development of training materials in this area. Her training and implementation work has reached practitioners in many countries, extending the reach of evidence-based practices across international behavioral health systems. Dr. Maples has authored and co-authored numerous publications, abstracts, and presentations.
Cynthia Sierra
Cynthia Sierra, MS, LPC, is a senior program leader with more than 15 years of experience advancing behavioral health initiatives across academic and community settings. She has directed statewide and grant-funded programs designed to improve outcomes for individuals living with serious mental illness, strengthening the implementation of recovery-oriented, evidence-based practices across systems of care.
Her work focuses on implementation strategy, workforce development, and translating research into sustainable, real-world programs. Ms. Sierra oversees multi-site initiatives that include operational leadership, budget oversight, staff supervision, and cross-sector collaboration. She has expertise in Cognitive Adaptation Training (CAT), leading clinician training and supporting program integration in community settings. She partners with faculty on research implementation and dissemination and has co-authored peer-reviewed publications addressing functional outcomes and transitional care.
Desirée Castillo
Mrs. Castillo serves as the Evidence-Based Project (EBP) Program Manager in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UT Health San Antonio. Over her 20-year career she has coordinated and managed numerous behavioral health projects. In her current role she provides day to day administration and management to multiple evidence-based training projects and eLearning websites.
Faculty and Trainers
Tom Alexander
Dr. Gary “Tom” Alexander, PhD, LPC advances access to evidence based psychosocial care through workforce training, implementation support, and applied, practice facing research. His clinical expertise spans forensic practice, addictions, EMDR, motivational interviewing, and trauma informed care, with a long standing focus on helping clinicians translate strong clinical models into consistent, high quality services in real world settings. He partners with community providers and organizational leaders to strengthen clinical skill development, support fidelity and sustainability, and improve outcomes for people impacted by trauma and substance use. Across clinical and leadership roles, he has provided both clinical and administrative supervision, supporting teams in risk aware decision making, structured clinical processes, and ethical, client centered care. Dr. Alexander has also contributed to professional education and scholarship through publications, abstracts, and presentations, with an emphasis on practical tools that help frontline clinicians deliver evidence based care with confidence and consistency.
Matthew Brown
Dr. Brown and his team work with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to provide multiple services in support of the Home and Communities-based – Adult Mental Health program (HCBS-AMH). The HCBS-AMH program provides participants diagnosed with a serious mental illness (SMI) various supports in pursuit of their recovery goals. Dr. Brown is a proponent of the recovery model in the treatment of SMI and. This model empowers the role of a person’s choice, priorities and goal setting in care planning and implementation. Dr. Brown has experience in the implementation of treatment approaches in his work with people diagnosed with an SMI including Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Psychosis (CBTp), Cognitive Adaptation Training (CAT) and Motivation and Enhancement Training (MOVE). Dr. Brown has provided in-depth trainings and presentations focusing on both the components and implementation of CBTp.
Nicole Dierschke
Dr. Nicole A. Dierschke brings two decades of experience in public health research, program evaluation, and clinical research informatics to efforts expanding access to evidence-based practices. Her work has focused on supporting large federally funded public health and behavioral health initiatives through evaluation design, performance measurement, and development of practical data collection and reporting strategies. At ICE EBP, she contributes to strengthening how evidence-based practices are measured, evaluated, and supported in real-world service settings, including work related to Cognitive Adaptation Training (CAT).
Throughout her career, she has worked across academic, clinical, and community-based environments, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to support implementation quality, federal reporting, and outcomes monitoring for large-scale programs. She is experienced in translating research, regulatory, and program requirements into feasible workflows and measurement approaches that align with how services are actually delivered. Dr. Dierschke has authored and co-authored abstracts and peer-reviewed publications across various clinical fields and presented at national conferences across public health and behavioral health research and evaluation initiatives.
Bryna Nation
Ms. Nation is a licensed master’s social worker; she currently serves as a Cognitive Adaptation Training and Mental Health First Aid trainer for the Texas Prompting Independence Initiative. She also serves as a clinical trainer across other projects in various topics and Evidence Based Practices related to trauma, substance use, and mental wellness. Bryna facilitates webinars, assists with the development of new trainings and eLearning modules, and oversees various behavioral health projects. She has worked with individuals with behavioral health challenges across the age spectrum, in both outpatient and inpatient settings and has a special interest in cultural humility, substance use disorders, and working with the LGBTQ+ community. She believes strongly in providing person centered care.
David Roberts
Dr. David Roberts is a clinical psychologist with over 20 years of experience training and supervising behavioral health professionals. He is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) and has trained more than 6,000 learners across 10 countries in evidence-based psychosocial interventions. His work focuses on strengthening applied clinical skills to support high-quality implementation in real-world settings.
Dr. Roberts is the developer of Reflective Training, a structured, feedback-informed model designed to accelerate skill acquisition through deliberate practice and guided performance review. The approach has been used with interdisciplinary teams and trainees across multiple professional backgrounds to enhance competence in Motivational Interviewing and related approaches.
He is also the lead developer of Social Cognition and Interaction Training (SCIT), an evidence-based intervention for serious mental illness that has been implemented internationally. Dr. Roberts has received teaching awards from multiple universities and professional organizations in recognition of his contributions to education and workforce development.